TUSCALOOSA,Ala. – No. 9 Alabama dropped its second game of the season in a nail-biter to Oregon 83-81 Saturday night.
It was another tightly contested game for the Crimson Tide in Las Vegas, but it did not go Alabama’s way Saturday night. Alabama trailed 81-75 with 29 seconds left in the game, but kept fighting. Alabama guard Aden Holloway hit a 3-pointer to get within one possession.
Point guard Mark Sears followed Holloway’s shot with a steal that earned him two free throws, and forward Mouhammed Dioubate grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw to keep the Crimson Tide’s comeback hopes alive. Dioubate was fouled and hit two free throws to tie the game at 81 with 18 seconds to go.
On Oregon’s final possession, the Ducks missed a layup with five seconds to go, but Oregon center Nate Bittle was waiting under the basket for an open put-back dunk that ended Alabama’s valiant comeback.
One notable issue for the Crimson Tide in Saturday’s game was turnovers. Alabama entered the championship game averaging 16.5 turnovers during its time in Las Vegas. Saturday night’s game was a continuation of the turnover issue.
Alabama turned over the ball 15 times throughout the game compared to just eight turnovers from Oregon. The Ducks capitalized on the Crimson Tide turnovers, too. Oregon outscored Alabama 17-5 on points off turnovers.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats acknowledged the Alabama turnover issue after the game.
“That’s a tough way to lose a game,” Oats said. “Our turnovers have been kind of haunting us here in Vegas, last game and this game, and the points off turnover, 17-5. It’s hard to overcome that.”
A bright spot despite the loss was the shooting of forward Jarin Stevenson. The sophomore started the season missing his first 18 shot attempts from behind the arc. Saturday night, his shots started to finally fall. Stevenson scored 11 points on 3-for-4 shooting with all three of his made shots being 3-pointers. All of Stevenson’s threes came in the second half and helped the Crimson Tide dig out of a 10-point deficit in the middle of the second half.
“I think this is the Jarin [Stevenson] we were looking for this year. It’s great that he hung in there and got his confidence going,” Oats said. “He’s gonna be a big part of what we do this year, and I’m really happy for him, he got it going.”
Oregon guard Keeshawn Barthelemy gave the Alabama defense major problems throughout the game. In 30 minutes off the bench, Barthelemy scored 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting and hitting four out his five 3-point shots.
Perhaps one of the bigger stories coming out of last night’s championship is the injury to Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell. One minute into the second half, in a 41-41 game, Wrightsell reached out in an attempt to grab an offensive rebound when he suffered a non-contact lower-leg injury. Wrightsell was later seen on the sideline in a walking boot.
Though nothing is confirmed, Oats and the staff fear it is an achilles injury, “They’re concerned about his achilles, which obviously wouldn’t be good. They’re gonna evaluate him once we get back. So we’ll get a MRI and see what we’ve got going,” Oats said.
Up next, the Crimson Tide’s schedule grind continues. Alabama travels to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to take on the North Carolina Tar Heels in the SEC/ACC Challenge in a rematch of last season’s Sweet 16 thriller. Alabama and North Carolina tip off at 6:15 p.m. CT on Wednesday.
